3D printed organs can help keep donor’s body intact
3D列印器官 保存捐贈者遺體完整

Tainan’s Chi Mei Hospital on Aug. 23 introduced technology for making substitute organs using 3D printers to the public at an event held at the hospital to promote organ donation.

Citing statistics from the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center, Chi Mei Hospital surgery department head Tian Yu-feng says there are about 9,100 patients in Taiwan waiting for organ transplants, but the average number of organs donated per year is only 200. Although Taiwanese are generally open to the idea of organ donation, people tend to hesitate when it comes to actually signing a donation agreement.

Tian adds that Chi Mei Hospital has been making substitute organs for donors using 3D printers since late last year. The new organs, made of corn powder, substitute donated organs to keep the donors’ body as intact as possible, which helps their family and friends feel more comfortable about the process. Chi Mei Hospital, which is the first hospital in Taiwan to have applied this technology to organ donation, has so far made substitute organs for seven donors.

Hospital president Chio Chung-ching says that volunteering to donate an organ is an incredibly selfless act, adding that he hopes more people will be willing to support organ donation and become donors in the future.